Meet me at Eros

I have lived in London for the past 13 years and never ever have I met anyone at ?Eros? in Piccadilly Circus before. So when Dave suggested meeting there I thought how strange. When he suggested 10pm I thought OMG but it?s a school night!
Some might think this was a romantic gesture. I am a realist though and figure it?s just where foreigners meet each other. It?s a well recognised landmark. Like meeting at the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
This was borne out partly when I met up with the other Dave and we realised simultaneously that we were the only 2 british people at the statue. About 20 minutes later the rest of the gang arrived with feeble excuses for lateness.
By the time we ensconced ourselves in the bar there was barely time for one drink and a photo/video shoot before we split up and went our separate ways.
Paulie, Dave, Dave and myself headed south the the 2 brewers for more drinks. Finally to home where I had the pleasure of entertaining the young antipodean before he heads off to American shores.
Completely forgot to give him his Kylie water and CD that Simon had given him the first time he left. I’ll have to pack them for San Francisco now.

Dirty Stop Out!

Lovely day. The whole dogs and babies thing happened again. My brothers house is in a square and I spent the day trying not to flirt with his neighbour! Gorgeous as he was.
A bank holiday weekend is not the same without a trip to B&Q so of course we managed to fit one in!
Back to London and I never quite made it back to my own flat.

Cold showers

No I am not talking about the weather here. Although it has been showery here in London and also quite cold considering last week I was wandering around in a tee shirt.
I am actually talking about at home. No not because I am horny. Although after the tube encounter I could hardly be blamed.
No this is the sad and sorry tale of my broken boiler and the inept plumber. Wednesday he came to look at it and then was supposed to come back on thursday – so a couple of days without hot water – I could have coped.
Unfortunately It is now Monday and I still have cold water. He didn’t arrive on Thursday and called to say he would be with me on Sunday but unfortunately he had an emergency job to go to [my cold water is obviously not an emergency] So now he would like me to reschedule for Wednesday – a week later. Grrrr
I need to take a day off work too – which is impossible with my current schedule. Bah.
Anyone know a good reliable plumber in South London? Please?

Walk for Life – 23 June

Walk for Life is now in its 13th year and has become the largest HIV and AIDS fundraising event in Europe. It is a great day out for everyone, taking in some of the sights of London on an easy 10km stroll along the Thames. Details of last years walk can be read here and in seen here, where the AOL UK team raised over ?1500.
If you want to go along register at: http://walkforlife.co.uk [team name AOL UK – you don’t need to work for AOL] or phone 0870 011 0022. Then just email me to let me know you’ve registered or pop a post in the comments. I’ll email people who’ve contacted me closer to the time to arrange meeting up and other details.

Mr Pannett

Has now gone almost for good – with the exception of a possible brief meet up in London mid June and a week of fun and frolicking in San Fransisco the end of June.
Stupid I know but I miss him already.
Lucky him though he is ‘doing’ Europe and then the east and west coast of the US before heading back to noozleland.

Friday Night Dave’s leaving party

Friday Night

Dave‘s leaving party at Retro Bar turned into more of a blogmeet than anything else. Wendy and Leslie had done wonders with the bar and lovely food, even going as far as to include kiwi fruit on the platters 😉 After a few tears, a few tantrums, and discussions about sweet tobacco and iced gems, I was convinced to go to Popstarz to continue the celebrations.
The club was packed but fun and Oliver [flirty straight boy] and Cathy [his girlfriend] kept us amused with their antics. Later after Tom had fallen asleep for what seemed like the tenth time we joined the queue to get our jackets. It seemed to snake around the entire club before eventually arriving at the coat check. Still it gave us time to cruise and be cruised. All this excitement was followed by a cab journey back to south London for pizza and pringles.

Saturday

After getting up late and missing Simon in the process I had a very lazy but enjoyable Saturday. I also managed to get rid of the futon and fridge that have been in my hall for a year. So I now have space for my bike, and Fabio’s bike, and Elric’s bike…
Although we had intentions of going out or going to see a film we ended up staying in and vegging. I’m not complaining though it was nice quality time.

Sunday

Got up relatively early as Nige was bringing Jack back to mine. Also we had plans to go and have Sunday lunch with Meg & Paul, Tom and Scally. A change of venue from the Ship in Hammersmith to the Curtains Up in West Ken was probably not good. The food and service left a lot to be desired so it was just as well we were gathered for the company and not the cuisine.
We then ventured into Leicester Square for Ice Cream and a jaunt in HMV. All of which was a pleasant and undemanding way to finish off the weekend.

I think the main thing I’ll miss about the pesky antipodean is the relaxed attitude to everything.

Alcohol is NOT our friend

Saturday
Spence, and Glenn along with David [yes another one] and Benjy and I had dinner in Leicester Square. The table next to us managed to set their candle on fire – yes I know they are supposed to burn but not the entire thing all at once. The waiter casually opened the door to prevent the smoke alarms from activating ina a manner that suggested it may be a common occurence. We were joined later by Scally and the lovely Bruce for coffee before heading over to Barcode for a couple of drinks. Oh and meeting Chris again too.

Sunday
Pub lunch with alcohol and smutty comments about 20 year old waiters and 18 year old bar men, with Spence, Glenn and David [yes yet another david – common as muck that name] was followed by coffee back at mine and then yet more drinks and smutty conversation at bar ABV.
I then ventured into soho to meet up with Dave, Tom, Simon and Bart. Poor Bart I think was a little overwhelmed by the banter and it only got worse from there. We started in the Friendly Society which I must say must be one of the most stupidly expensive and dark bars in London. May as well have been in a dark room for the amount we could see. Low ambient lighting I can cope with but when someone lights a cigarette and the entire bar lights up you have to wonder if they have taken subtlety to the limits. Village was a stagger [well 2 or 3 steps] away. Dave decided to enlighten Tom about some of my history – thanks. I then decided to embark on making it worse. Somethings you should never discuss whilst drunk. Like job interviews for Bass pubs 😉
Swiftly moving along Compton Street to Manto’s where Tom and I read a smutty comic in fits of giggles to be scolded repeatedly by the ever mature Mrs Davo. We also leered at some cute guy for a while before practically begging him not to leave – well we sort of did it quiet enough so he couldn’t hear and he left anyways without noticing.
All in all a very pleasant weekend with good company and way too much alcohol.

I’m sure there was something I was supposed to blog about Tom but can’t remember now – will need to ask him to remind me later 😉

spring has sprung

It is a beautifully sunny day here in London, I managed to get up early because Jack wanted out at 8ish even though I was out drinking last night for ‘friendlies’ at The Ram in Islington.
So Jack has been to the common, I have all the windows open in the flat and I am spring cleaning – I’m convinced it’s a built in compulsion to clean in spring!
Meg and Paul are moving today as well – nice day for it.
So I have had my 10 minutes to catch up on mail, update this so now I’m off to enjoy the sunshine. I’m looking forward to more sun to come too – the nights are getting lighter and it finally feels like summer is not too far away.

london tea for london people

now call me a cynic but when I went into the kitchen today to make a morning brew I was confronted with complimentary packs of ‘2 free tea bags’ from the London Cuppa Ltd. The blurb states ‘At last a tea specially selected and blended, in London for Londoners.’ So erm how does that work? When did London become the connoisseur capital for tea?